26 ENGINEBUILDERmag.com | AUGUST 2020
W
hat seems like a lifetime ago in 2011, Cristy Lee was working the Auto Show circuit for
Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep as a narrator. It was there that a tv producer saw her doing her
thing and liked what he saw and heard.
“He asked if I would be interested
in All Girls Garage,” Cristy Lee says.
“You always take o ers like that with
a grain of salt, but six months later
they had me come down to the set
and audition and I became the third
cast member on an all-female, how-to
automotive show.”
Fast forward to 2020, and Cristy
Lee has become a household name
among automotive enthusiasts and
professionals alike. All Girls Garage
recently wrapped up its ninth season
on the MotorTrend Network.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Lee says.
“In-studio hosting is very di erent
than in- eld reporting, but what
I love about it the most is we have
the opportunity to showcase our
personalities and make the job fun.
It’s not just about building cars and
cool projects and showcasing products,
but it’s also a chance to showcase what
we’re about and what we love and what
we know.”Cristy has also lent her talents and
automotive knowledge to another
MotorTrend car show called Garage
Squad where the “squad” helps people
nish up restorations of long-overdue
project cars in the span of one week.
e show recently nished up its sixth
season.
“Something that is really important
about Garage Squad is that it is all
about the story,” she says. “ e vehicle
is important, we want to see cool cars,
but it’s more about the story of that
ride and the owner and that’s what
really sets this show apart.”
Over the years, Cristy has made the
most of all of her opportunities in and
around the automotive industry. From
her early days with motorcycles, AMA
Racing and Motocross, to covering
O -Road Truck Racing, Supercross,
Monster Jam, Flat Track Racing, and
even the X Games, Cristy has kept
plenty busy. Hosting All Girls Garage,
Barrett-Jackson auctions and GarageSquad have been her focus of late.
However, her busy schedule nally
caught up to her and in a move for
self-preservation, Cristy decided 2020
was the year to step away from All
Girls Garage.
“I was hosting All Girls Garage,
Barrett-Jackson and Garage Squad last
season,” she says. “Barrett-Jackson is
no longer on MotorTrend this season,
and All Girls Garage, I decided to
take a step back from that. Last year
was my last year as a co-host of that
show. Honestly, that was mostly for
personal reasons. Last year was insane
with traveling and scheduling and
TV production. I was on the road
constantly and living out of a suitcase
in hotels and on and o airplanes – I
was exhausted.”
For 2020, prior to the pandemic,
which nobody saw coming, Cristy’s
goal was to take a little more time for
herself and not travel as much. at
didn’t turn out to be the case.
“I am still hosting Garage Squad
this season and that was the plan,”
she says. “I’m on the road every single
week. I’ve been on the road since June
1st and I’m on the road every single
week from June until mid-October
and weekends. It’s like a repeat of last
year, but I’m really excited about a
new season of Garage Squad.”
No matter how Cristy’s TV
persona has grown over the years, she
has remained humble and an advocate
of the industry and of women being a
big part of it.
“I’m an enthusiast and passionate
about the industry and I hope that
my industry experience and my
knowledge can shed some light on
the fact that there are many women
in the industry,” Lee says. “I’m a big
advocate of women and anything
within motorsports. One thing that
will never change is my addiction to
adrenaline – I can’t get enough!” EBCRISTY LEE
CO-HOST, ALL GIRLS GARAGE | GARAGE SQUAD | BARRETT-JACKSON
23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 26 8/7/20 8:29 AM
Naresh Jariwala